Social Systems vs. Abstract Communication

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses rational and abstract communication in social systems via a review of several articles. It reviews the law model and studies the works and theories of the modernization of the world, of Michel Foucalt, Nancy Love, Niklas Luhmann and John Hagan. The review is conducted through an analysis of several articles written by these famous thinkers. The paper then compares and contrasts these views and reviews where the individual stands in the system.

Outline:
Article Summaries
Michel Foucault: Spaces of Security: The example of the Town. Lecture of 11th January
Michel Foucault: About the Beginning of Hermeneutics of the Self
Nancy Love: Foucault and Habermas on Discourse and Democracy
Harro Muller: Luhmann's Systems Theory as a Theory of Modernity
Niklas Luhmann: Differentiation of Society
John Hagan: Parameters of Criminal Prosecution
Niklas Luhmann: "What is the case?"
Linking the articles - Compare and Contrast
Links between Luhmann's Differentiation and Foucault's Example of the Town
Links between Foucault's hermeneutics of the self and Love's Discourse and Democracy
Links between Luhmann's differentiation of society and Hagan's study on the criminal court
Links between Luhmann's Differentiation of Society and Love's Discourse and Democracy
Links between Luhmann's Differentiation of Society and Foucault's hermeneutics of the self
Examining the Problem
Relate Subjectification to the Systemic Account: Where the Individual Stands in the System

From the Paper:

"We would now like to analyze this in terms of the legal system. With influence from Hagan's study on criminal court and its influences, we are able to analyze the legal system. In this article, Hagan asserts that there are some connections on final disposition in the trial with the circumstances of the trial such as initial plea, presence of defense counsel, and even to a certain extent race and socio-economic class. These connections may be obscure but they are still real. In knowing that there are connections between these elements of the trial and the final decision, we must realize that the judge and jury's decision is not only based on the facts of the case. There must be some sort of contribution outside of these facts. This contribution is the abstract communications that the jury has unconsciously accepted as social norms and attributed to the case."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Butler, Nick. (2007) The Management of Populations. Theory and Politics in Organization, Vol. 7, No. 3: 475-480.
• Foucault, Michel. (2007) Security, Territory, Population: Lectures at the College de France, 1977-78, trans. G. Burchell. Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 48-56.
• Foucault, Michel. "Hermeneutics of the Self: Two Lectures at Dartmouth." 3rd ed. Political Theory. 21.2 (1993): 198-227.
• Hagan, John. "Parameters of Criminal Prosecution: an Application of Path Analysis to a Problem of Criminal Justice." The Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology. 65.4 (1975): 535-544.
• Love, Nancy S. "Foucault and Habermas on Discourse and Democracy" Polity 22.2 (1989): 269-293)

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